Space.com offers up a celestially intriguing article, "Earth's Atmosphere 'Breathes' More Rapidly Than Thought."
What? The Earth breathes? You bet it does.
According to the article, by Andrea Thompson,"Earth's atmosphere was known to 'breathe' in a cycle lasting nearly a month. Now scientists say the planet takes a quick breath every few days.
"The breathing-like activity is the result of high-speed solar wind
disturbances that cause a recurrent expansion and contraction of Earth’s atmosphere every few days, satellite observations show. This atmospheric mode could affect radio communication,orbiting satellites and possibly the Earth’s climate, researchers say."
This actual expansion and contraction occurs far up in the Earth's
thermosphere, the layer of the atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 300 miles (96.5 to 483 kilometers) above the planet's surface. It is constantly interacting with the sun's upper atmosphere as it expands out into the solar system, according to one of the researchers who made the discovery, Jeff Thayer of the University of Colorado in Boulder.This interaction causes an energy exchange that can change the density of the thermosphere (how closely the gas molecules within it are packed together). As its density changes, the thermosphere expands and contracts.
We're not sure of the actual implications of a breathing Earth, but we like the thought of it a lot.
For more on breath and breathing, visit www.perfectbreath.com
health
science
No comments:
Post a Comment